Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt said it had hit €2 billion ($2.11 billion) in annual revenue, as the European rival of US-based Uber grows its global presence and prepares to go public.
The company said in a statement its app has reached over 50 countries and is the No. 1 operator in more than 20 of them, having widened its offering to ride-hailing, scooter and e-bike rental, food and grocery delivery and car sharing.
Its home country of Estonia is one of Europe's largest tech hubs, housing over 1,450 startups according to the government.
"I don't really agree that you cannot figure out how to do world class marketing or engineering from Europe," Bolt's chief executive Markus Villig said in the statement.
Ride-hailing companies will be the best way for self-driving cars to come to market, he said, but added that companies are "years out before having a service that is commercially viable, cheaper than a human driver and one that meets regulatory requirements".
Bolt
Bolt was set up in 2013 and nine years later was valued at over $8 billion, when it raised €628 million from investors in January 2022.
Villig told Reuters last year the group would be ready for an initial public offering in 2025.
In October of this year, Estonian Bolt and Starship Technologies launched an autonomous grocery delivery service in the country’s capital, Tallinn.
A ‘first of its kind’ in Europe, the roll-out was part of a commercial partnership between food delivery start-up Bolt and autonomous delivery services provider Starship.
